CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dr. Christensen’s voice was tight on the other end of the phone. “Yes, I have seen more risqué pieces from my students, but are you sure you want to do this?”
Mandy squashed the twinge of doubt like she would a spider daring to invade her bathroom. “I only have a few working hours. This is the best I have short of a tornado piece, and you know I can’t do one of those after the one hit three years ago. And I already did a car burial ground, and I think a cemetery is too cliché.”
“Very well, change the shape of the swimming pool and soften some of your statues. The work needs to be appropriate for under eighteen, and those aren’t exactly Michelangelo.”
Abbie came into the room, and Mandy quickly hid her work.
“Thanks, Dr. C. I’ll send the finished one over on Monday morning.”
Abbie stepped around easels. “Alex got word Daniel is testifying after lunch. If all goes well, you’ll be rid of me in a few more days.”
Too bad. Other than not being artistic, Abbie was a great roommate.
The moment the defense had waited for had come. Daniel Crawford took the witness stand.
The attorney got right to the heart of his questions. “Last week in another trial you testified you tried to help Miss Vandemark by using her inhaler. Why did you think her inhaler would help?”
“Over the past couple of years, Miss Vandemark has had three such fainting spells in my presence, all of them brought on by a combination of stress and alcohol.” Daniel looked at Summerset’s father, hoping he would understand the danger his daughter had become.
“Had she been drinking?”
“She had one glass of wine at lunch, although I cautioned her not to.”
“Any particular reason for that, Mr. Crawford?” The attorney leaned in.
“Yes, Summerset rarely is able to stop at one drink, and I knew lunch would be distressing for her.”
“What reason did you have to believe she would be distressed?”
Daniel shifted his eyes to meet Summerset’s. She needed to listen this time. “Because I told her I was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her, and I felt she needed to enter a sobriety clinic as I could no longer be that for her, since keeping her sober had somehow become my job.”
The judge hit his gavel three times to quiet the court.
“And what was her reaction?”
“She threw her lunch at me.”
“And what did you do?”
“I signed the bill and left the restaurant.”
“Did you see Miss Vandemark again that afternoon?”
“Possibly. A half hour later, I left the hotel to take a walk. I thought I saw her through the doors to the bar, but the glass is wavy, and I didn’t check to see if my assumption was correct. I had previously asked the bartender not to serve her and assumed that if it were her, she would be turned away.”
“Were you aware the bartender you had spoken with had left for a family emergency around one and had been replaced by another?”
“Not until the testimonies were given on Wednesday.”
The attorney checked a paper on his desk, then addressed the judge. “That will be all.”
The prosecuting attorney rose for the cross-examination. “You say you broke off your relationship with Miss Vandemark that day, but were you not, in fact, leading her on?”
“No, sir.”
The lawyer held up three photos. “In the last two weeks, you have been seen and photographed either kissing or holding Miss Vandemark.”
“As the tabloids will attest, I have been seen with several women over the last several months and weeks. All of them were dates or outings at my invitation. And several of those women have also kissed me. All the times I was with Miss Vandemark, the kissing was at her instigation, with the exception of the Academy Awards, where we had both been invited as guests of one of the nominees for best actor.”
The voices in the room rose. The judge banged his gavel again.
“So, you are some type of womanizer?”
The defense attorney stood. “Objection.”
“Sustained. Do you have anything relevant to ask the witness?” The judge glared.
The prosecuting attorney checked with his partner. “No, Your Honor.”
Daniel stepped down from the stand.
Summerset jumped from her seat. “You! Liar! You said you loved me! You told me you would help me!”
Mr. Vandemark tried to pull his daughter back into her seat.
Daniel continued to walk out of the courtroom to the banging of the gavel and the screams of Miss Vandemark.
Until the trial officially ended, Daniel was stuck in the city, but at least he didn’t have to endure any more dates with the too-willing women of society. And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Vandemark would do what he should have done months ago and check his daughter into rehab. Closing arguments would be Monday, the verdict no later than Tuesday. He had a Tuesday-night flight to London. He sat down at his computer in the apartment.
Mandy still answered his calls with texts. I meant it when I said good-bye.
He’d sent flowers.
She texted a photo of them donated to a retirement home.
Now that he could finally explain the dates, she wouldn’t listen. Had the ruse been worth it? Yes, the strategy had shut down any claim Summerset had made about their relationship, left the hotel blameless, and hopefully got Summerset the help she needed. But Mandy also believed he was a player of the worst kind.
The only good news of the day had come from Morgan via email. There wouldn’t be a trial over the Fowler property. George Fowler had confessed to forging Mae’s and Mandy’s signatures. Mandy’s father surfaced from a dig long enough to be outraged and confirm he had no interest in the property. And the holding company that had bought the land turned it over to Daniel’s possession without a fight. The transaction had been accomplished quietly, without Mandy needing to be involved. He hoped George Fowler possessed half a brain and had invested his $3.4 million wisely.
He needed some other way to convince Mandy to give him a chance. What had the love therapist been talking about on the radio when the driver had picked him up the other night? Or was it that television noise he had on? What had they called it? The final move? No, the “grand gesture.”
Daniel logged into the password-protected file and opened the deeds and purchase agreements, then he brought up the land map and called Morgan.
Then he texted Colin.
Who needed flowers?
If this idea worked, Mandy would talk to him and, more importantly, listen as well.
The image blurred in front of Mandy’s eyes. She bit her lip and finished her diet cola. Doubts filled her. She had toned down several of the manipulations, and none of the men in the windows resembled Daniel. If she had three more days, she would abandon this manipulation entirely, but in five hours, school would start and the image needed to be in. She cleaned the vinyl sign from the window and replaced it with a simple “shirts and shoes optional.” The pool was transformed into a heart surrounded with heart-shaped hot tubs. Chubby cherubs, leaves, and scarves hid things some considered art when sculpted by Italian Renaissance artists.
It would raise eyebrows, and the student newspaper might even comment, saying she hadn’t pushed boundaries enough, but technically the work was solid. She ran it through several web programs that detected image manipulation and managed to fool all but one. It didn’t like the wooden fence she’d designed, but she was too tired to figure out why.
She uploaded the photo to Dr. Christensen’s cloud, then set her alarm, half hoping it wouldn’t actually go off.
Everyone crowded in the courtroom to hear the verdict. Outside, photographers vied for the best spots.
The attorney for the Vandemarks asked to approach the bench. Summerset’s usual place next to her father was vacant.
The verdict was never read.
Mr. Vandemark apologized to the hotel.
The rumors flew. Summerset entered a rehab clinic in Idaho.
Unrest in the Middle East topped the news stories.
Daniel boarded a plane bound for London and sent a group text to Colin, Morgan, and Bonnie.
I don’t care how much it costs me. Figure it out. Only funds from my personal accounts. And under no circumstances use a decorator from New York.
He turned off his phone.